#liam ur birthday reminded me that wills birthday is also in march which then caused me to black out ans write this <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[steveshairychest]

Happy birthday, Liam @withacapitalp !! We've only been friends for a short while, but you're so fun to talk to and I hope you had the best birthday ever! Mwah! I hope you like your gift <3

---

Jonathan loves the spring.

The new signs of life blossoming all around him always brings a smile to his face. He has a photo album filled with photos of every spring since he got his camera. There's pictures of the tree in their backyard finally growing new leaves, a doe with a fawn trotting awkwardly behind her near castle Byers, green grass peaking out through the melting snow.

And Will, so many photos of Will. His birthday is in spring.

Every year, Jonathan takes a picture of Will sitting in the same spot on the couch with his birthday present in hand. He tells Will it's for the memories; so when he flicks through the photo album, he can see his little brother slowly growing up. Will's smiling in some, laughing in others. In one picture, he's just sitting there trying to smile, but he looks like he's in pain, like he's going to cry; that was his first birthday since he came home from the upside down. Jonathan always skips past that one when he's flicking through the album.

This year is different, though. They'd missed Will's birthday due to everything with Vecna, Jonathan's camera is packed away in moving boxes that are on a truck going from California to Hawkins, he broke up with Nancy, and now he's stuck sleeping on the couch in Hopper's dusty cabin.

He's having the worst spring ever.

There's a quiet psst from the mattress on the floor and a hand poking his side. Jonathan pretends to still be asleep.

"I know you're awake, man." Argyle whispers and jabs him again.

Jonathan rolls over and stares down at his friend, who is lying on his side with his head propped up on his hand. Jonathan honestly expected Argyle to leave the minute he dropped Jonathan and the boys off in Hawkins. He'd expected to see the pizza van driving off as fast as it could go but instead, the van is parked outside and Argyle is lying on the floor beside him, wearing mismatched pyjamas they'd found at a charity shop that wasn't wrecked in the 'earthquake'.

He's kind of relieved Argyle is here with him. He's never felt so... relaxed, so happy, in someone's presence before.

"What do you want? I'm sleeping."

Argyle snorts. "No, you're not. You're thinking so loud it's keeping me awake as well." Argyle scoots over to the edge of his mattress and pats the new space next to him. "Come down here. Let's have a sleepover."

"I don't – "

"Just get down here. I won't bite." Argyle lifts the blanket up and holds it open until Jonathan begrudgingly rolls from the couch to the mattress. "See? Wasn't that hard, was it." Argyle drops the blanket on top of Jonathan and makes a show of tucking him in. "Now, tell me what's on your mind."

He hasn't shared a bed with anyone for a long time. He feels stiff, awkward, a little flustered as well because Argyle is lying on his side facing Jonathan, his intense gaze makes him feel like he's overheating.

"I don't know. It’s nothing, really." He turns his head and looks at Argyle; the look on his face tells Jonathan that his friend isn't buying it. He sighs and stares up at the ceiling before whispering, "We missed Will's birthday."

"Shit, really? When was it?" Argyle sounds genuinely upset by the news.

"March 22nd. Normally, we'd wake him up with pancakes and he'd eat so many he'd make himself sick. Then mum would start singing happy birthday really off-key while bringing out the little bag of presents we both know she hides under her bed." Jonathan smiles sadly and picks at a loose string in the blanket. "I always take a picture of Will on his birthday. He hates it, always complains when I tell him to hold up his presents and smile. But when I get the pictures developed, he takes them off me excitedly to see how they turned out."

Argyle hums and rolls onto his back as well. "Is Will upset we missed his birthday?"

Jonathan wishes Will was upset. He wishes his brother didn't just shrug his shoulders and say, "It's just a birthday." He wishes he could make Will see how important his birthday is.

It's a celebration of his life.

It's a reminder that he's still here, that they got him back.

"He said that there's more important things to worry about than his birthday." Jonathan whispers softly. He knows that there is some truth in those words, but he craves to have one normal thing happen this spring.

"Hm. He sure is a selfless little guy." Argyle yawns, which in turn causes Jonathan to yawn. Man, he really is exhausted. He rolls onto his side and closes his eyes, feeling a little better after talking to Argyle; it feels like the knot in his chest has been loosened, finally allowing him to breathe. "Night, Jonathan." Argyle whispers, his breath fanning Jonathan’s face.

"Night, Argyle." He says softly, thankful that the dark hides the flush in his cheeks.

--------

Jonathan wakes to the smell of pancakes and the sound of quiet chatter. He can hear the scrape of a spatula against a pan as someone flips a pancake.

"Will, slow down. You'll make yourself sick!" His mother's voice rings out around the small cabin. Will says something through a mouthful of pancakes that Jonathan can't quite understand from his spot in bed.

"Is Jon awake yet? I've made him a plate." That's Argyle.

Jonathan groans and stretches before slowly getting up and making his way to the small kitchen. Will and El sit at the table, a giant stack of maple syrup covered pancakes in front of both of them. "Morning." He says and drops a kiss to the top of both their heads.

Will laughs and scrunches up his face. "Your breath stinks."

Joyce passes him a cup of coffee and plants a kiss to his cheek. "Eat up before it gets even colder. Argyle's been swatting flies away from your plate all morning."

Jonathan can't stop the smile that pulls at his lips. He can't believe Argyle woke up early to make pancakes for them. Argyle beams at him from his spot in front of the stove and hands him a plate of pancakes. "Thought these might cheer you up a bit. Oh, and Will's agreed to let us throw him a party later."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did." El quips back, a teasing smile on her face as she leans forward and says, "You agreed the second mum said Mike can come over for dinner."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Will blushes bright red and stuffs another mouthful of pancake into his mouth.

Jonathan doesn't know why, but he feels like crying. He doesn't know if it's because Argyle actually listened to him and put in the effort to do something to make him and everyone else feel better, or if it's because El just called Joyce mum or because Will is smiling and eating pancakes on his late birthday morning.

Either way, he's just glad to have some sort of normalcy back into his life.

Argyle stands beside him, his hand resting on the small of Jonathan's back as he leans close to him and reaches for the maple syrup. "Don't tell Joyce, but I put a little something extra in our pancakes. If you get what I mean."

Jonathan meets Argyle's gaze, a little flustered by how close he is, and raises a brow. "It's 9 o'clock in the morning, dude."

"Suit yourself. Give me yours then." He goes to take Jonathan’s plate, but Jonathan holds it away and out of his reach.

"I didn't say I wasn't going to eat them."

Argyle smiles and dumps a generous amount of maple syrup on both of their plates. "Thank you for this." Jonathan says softly to Argyle.

He watches Joyce disappear into Hopper's room before coming back out with a little bag that's says 'happy birthday' in rainbow letters. Will groans and tries to hide his smile as their mum sings him happy birthday and places the present in front of him. "I called Mike a few months ago while we were still in California to ask for his help with your present. He said you'd like it." Joyce bites her lip nervously as Will pulls out a book.

"What is it?" Argyle asks loudly.

Will smiles so bright and full of joy, Jonathan wishes he had his camera so that he could have a picture of it forever. "It's the new dnd handbook! I've wanted this for ages! I love it, thank you!" He wraps Joyce up in a tight hug before letting go and bringing his chair around next to El so that they can look through the book together.

The room is full of happy chatter and full bellies and Jonathan is content to stay in this little bubble forever. He knows that this is only temporary, that there's still an evil waiting to be stopped, but for now he's happy to bump shoulders with Argyle and watch his little brother enjoy his late birthday.

Maybe this spring won't be so bad after all.